College Station, Texas - In a game with so much offense, Alabama's muscle overcame the flash of Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel. The top-ranked Crimson Tide had 568 yards of offense to hold off the sixth-ranked Aggies, 49-42, here Saturday before 87,596 fans, the fourth largest crowd in Kyle Field history.

The Tide (2-0, 1-0) looked to have the game wrapped up with a 42-28 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

But Manziel's 95-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mike Evans with 8:04 left in the game gave the Aggies (2-1, 0-1) life, cutting the Tide's lead to 42-35.

That's when the Tide offense, dominant at the line of scrimmage all day, put away the Aggies with a nine-play, 65-yard touchdown drive that consumed 5:36 of the fourth quarter clock.

Manziel again directed the Aggies on a touchdown drive to cut the lead to 49-42 with 24 seconds to play. But Alabama recovered the onside kickoff to prevail.

Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron, who passed for 334 yards and four touchdowns, capped the drive with an impressive play-action pass to running back Jalston Fowler for a 5-yard touchdown strike and the Tide led 49-35 with 2:28 to play.

Manziel, who got the Aggies out to a 14-0 first quarter lead as Texas A&M scored on their first two possessions, had Heisman Trophy-like statistics in the game.

He rushed for 98 yards and passed for 464 yards and five touchdowns. Evans was his favorite target as he caught seven passes for 279 yards and a touchdown.